Tool



De. 15, 1970 F. J. #IAL 3,546,919

Filed OCT.. 2l, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Il 56 22 i I la i a -3 l 4o sa IIN` FELIX J. FIM.

ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,546,919 TOOL Felix J. Fial, 309 E. Tamarack Ave., Inglewood, Calif. Filed Oct. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 769,169 Int. Cl. B21j 13/08 U.S. Cl. 72-458 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLSURE The tie breaker of this invention comprises a rod with an integrally attached tube at one end. The tube is rectangular in cross-section and the axis of a tube is generally transverse to the axis of a handle. The walls of the tube are provided with a suitably disposed tie rod receiving groove or notches along its edges for receiving the end portions of the tie rods. With the end of the tie rods in the grooves formed in the walls of the rectangular of the tube, the tie breaker can grip the rods and bend and twist them until they break.

BRIEF SUMMARY This invention relates generally to a wire twisting device and more particularly to a novel tie breaker for breaking the end portions of tie rods embedded in concrete walls.

When large concrete walls are constructed they require correspondingly shaped wooden forms to support the concrete. These forms are held together against lateral pressure of the poured cement by means of many tie rods which extend through the cement and the forms. After the cement has hardened and the forms have been removed the ends of these rods protrude out of the walls of the cement. These ends must be broken off and to do this, tie rod breaking wrenches have been devised for gripping and twisting the ends of these rods. To facilitate breaking, the tie rods are constructed with a built-in weak spot so that when the ends of the rods are twisted they readily break.

Because of the many, often hundreds, of tie rods which are used in large cement wall construction, it is important to be able to break the ends of the tie rods very rapidly in order to reduce labor costs.

Those tie breakers heretofore constructed were not satisfactory because in use the ends of the tie rods were first griped and then they had to be twisted several times to cause the break. This twisting increased the time required to break the tie rod and substantially increased labor costs.

Applicant has discovered that the time required to break off the ends of the tie rods could be reduced by forming a sharp right angle bend in the tie rod closely adjacent with the cement wall and then twisting the bent tie rod. When this was done only a partial twist of the bent tie rod was required to cause the break. Consequently, the ends of the tie rod can be broken very rapidly and with lower labor costs than was heretofore required. In contrast, prior tie rod breakers were unable to form a sharp right angle bend and so required excessive time consuming twisting of the ends of the tie rod before the break would occur.

What is needed therefore and constitutes an important object of this invention is to provide a tie rod breaking tool which can grip the ends of the tie rod and form a sharp right angle bend in the tie rod closely adjacent the cement walls and thereforafter twist the tie rod to cause the break.

A further object of this invention is to provide a tie rod breaker which is simple to construct and easy to operate and which can break the ends of tie rods with a minimum of twisting.

Patented Dec. 15, 1970 This and other objects of this invention will become more apparent when better understood in the light of the accompanying specification and drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a prospective view of a tie rod breaker constructed according to the principles of this invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational View of one end of the tie rod breaker.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view showing a portion of the opposite side of a tie rod breaker disclosed in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational `view of a tie rod breaker showing the arrangement of some of the grooves and the walls of the rectangular tube.

FIG. 5 discloses the opposite side of the tie rod breaker shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 discloses a plan View of the tie rod breaker.

FIG. 7 discloses an elongated view of a portion of a cement wall showing the tie rod extending through its sides.

FIG. 8 discloses an elevational View of a typical tie rod disclosing its built-in weak points.

FIG. 9 discloses a prospective view of a large cement wall showing tie rod ends projecting out of its sides.

FIG. 10 discloses the tubular end of the tie breaker inserted over the end of a tie rod extending out of a cement wall.

FIG. ll discloses the rotation of the tie breaker prior to the bending of the tie rod when the ends of the tie rod are locked in the grooves in the walls of the rectangular tube.

FIG. 12 discloses the right an-gle bend of the end of a tie rod and the location of the side of the tie rod breaker prior to twisting.

FIG. 13 is an elevational view of the tie rod breaker showing a portion of the end of a tie rod in a groove in position for the twisting operation.

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawing, the tie rod breaker indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 comprises a handle 12 integrally secured to the wall 15 of a rectangular tubular portion 14. The tubular portion 14 is rectangular in cross-section defining a rod receiving channel.

In the embodiment shown, the tubular portion 14 includes walls 1S, 16, 18 and 20 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Walls 16, 18 and 20 all have rod receiving grooves formed therein. In particular, walls 18 and 20` are formed with grooves 22 and 24 extending inward from opposite edges of the tubular portion (see FIGS. 4 and 5). The width of these grooves are substantially equal to the diameter of the tie rods 26. The grooves in the walls 18 and 20 are at the same transverse distance from lwalls 15 and the connecting wall 16.

As seen in FIG. 6, wall 16 also has a groove 28 which is substantially equal to the diameter of the tie rod. The groove 28 in wall 16 is disposed mid-way between the ends of the tubular portion 14 and extends part way back toward the handle. In addition, groove 28 communicates with groove 24 for reasons to become apparent below (see FIG. 10). Furthermore, grooves 22 and 24 have an additional overlapping portion 30 which forms an aligned opening extending through walls 18 and 20 of the tubular portion 14. This overlapping portion 30 also communicates with groove 28 in Wall 16. The width of the overlapping portion 30 is substantially equal to the diameter of the tie rod. As will become apparent below, the edges of groove 28 serve as a sort of 'wrench for the ends of the tie rod after it has been bent. FIG. 7, as is shown in the drawing, shows a typical tie rod 26 embedded in a cement wall 31 and having ends 32 projecting out therefrom, which must be broken off. The 'weak points 34 which are built into the tie rods facilitate the breaking of the ends are shown in FIG. 8.

As stated above, construction of a large cement Wall requires the use of many, often hundreds, of tie rods, all

of which have ends which must be removed (see FIG. 9). Consequently, the speed of removal becomes an important economic factor. v

To use the tie breaker, the tubular end portion 14 of the tie breaker is passed over the end 32 of tie rod 26 (See FIG. 10). It is noted that the tube size of the tubular portion 14 is many times greater than the diameter of a. typical tie rod which is used in this kind of tool. Next, the tie breaker is rotated so one portion of the end 32 of the tie rod moves into groove 22 in wall 18 while another portion of the end 32 moves into groove 24 of the wall (see FIG. 11). With this arrangement, the rotation of the handle 12 of the tie breaker has moved to a position perpendicular to cement wall 31 with the wall 20 of the tubular portion 14 abuting the surface of the cement Wall.

Next, the handle 12 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. l1 with the edge 36 of groove 22 bearing against the end 32 of the tie rod creating thereby a 90 degree bend closely adjacent to the surface of the cement wall.

As the end 32 of the tie rod is bent, part of the bending portion of the tie rod moves into groove 28 (see FIG, 13). This gives groove 28 two functions. First of all its permits the desired sharp right angle bend. Second, the edges of Vgroove 28 function as a wrench cooperating with the sides of the bent tie rod and permit the bent end 32 of the tie rod to be twisted until there is a break in the weak point 34 (see FIG. 13).

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

I claim:

1. A tool -for breaking the ends of tie rods projecting out of a cement wall comprising an elongated handle, a channel shaped portion secured to one end of said handle, said channel shaped portion including at least parallel walls and a connecting transverse wall, grooves formed in said parallel walls extending from opposite ends of the said Walls, said grooves disposed at the same transverse distance from said connecting wall, a portion of said grooves overlapping to provide an aligned opening extending through the parallel Walls of said channel shaped portions, a groove formed in said connecting wall, said groove communicating 'with a groove in one of said parallel walls.

2. The tool described in claim 1 wherein said groove in said connection walls is disposed midway between the ends of said walls and communicates with the overlapping part of said grooves. n

3. A tool for breaking the ends of tie rods comprising an elongated handle, a tubular portion disclosed at one end of the handle, said tubular portion rectangular in cross-section and including parallel lwalls and a connecting wall, the end of said handle connected to a reinforcing wall, said reinforcing wall parallel to connecting wall, tie rod receiving grooves formed in said parallel walls extending from the opposite ends of said tubular portion, said grooves disposed at the same transverse distance from said connecting wall, a portion of said grooves overlapping to provide an aligned tie rod receiving opening extending through the parallel Walls of said tubular portion, a groove formed in said connecting wall, said groove communieating with a groove in one of said parallel walls disposed midway between the ends of the tubular portion and adapted to engage the opposite sides of a tie rod so that the tool serves as a wrench for twisting the tie rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,608,219 8/1952 McDaniel 81-3X 2,824,475 2/ 1958 Rolando 140-123 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner D. R. MELTON, Assistant Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 

